G'day all

I'm growing chillies on a semi-commercial scale (1900 plants this year) a wee bit north of Christchurch in the south island of New Zealand.

We bought our 11-acre lifestyle block in 2006 and I began experimenting with the best varieties of chillies to grow here. We generally have cold, clear winters (down to minus 10C) and hot, dry summers (up to 38C), so we invested in a 45m long poly tunnel to grow the chillies.

This year I have started spending Saturday mornings at a farmers market in Christchurch to sell chilli plants and fresh chillies later in the season, as well as the pickled jalapenos, smoked chillies, and sweet chilli sauce that I made at the end of last season in our licensed food kitchen.

The market for chillies from 'born and bred' Kiwis is relatively limited as its not a traditional ingredient in Kiwi cuisine, however NZ is a land of immigration and I'm getting lots of requests for different varieties of fresh chillies (the ones in our supermarkets in Christchurch tend to be the generic 'one size fits all' type) from ex-pat Brits, Americans, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, South Africans, and from New Zealanders who have travelled to foreign climes.

I also have a full-time job working from home as a business writer, and my husband commutes into the city for his job, so it's the jobs that pay 90% of the bills at this stage. But who knows in 5 years time?

We also have the space to grow many of our veggies, as well as our own beef, lamb, and pork (mainly bacon), which is a huge bonus (so long as you don't bond with the animals). My husband and I both hale from the UK (I grew up in the Saffron Walden area), so we appreciate how lucky we are.

Happy growing,
Louisa

Hi Louisa,

Thanks for your great introduction; that's just the way we started really. Here's some chilli varieties that we find grow well in poly tunnels and sell on farmers markets here:

Cherry Bomb - first to ripen, medium heat, eye-catching shape and colour.
Hot Wax - quick to crop (picked unripe - which is a greeny-yellow colour, good for BBQs (mild-medium)
Sante Fe Grande - quick to crop (picked unripe - yellow, medium heat, good for salsa/pickling).
Habaneros - loads of heat and a great flavour - long season though.

Good luck with the project. I spent some time in Saffron Walden as a nipper - my Dad was stationed at the RAF camp there for a bit.

Regards, Steve.

Thanks Steve,

I lived in one of the wee farm workers cottages at Audley End. An awesome playground for a 10-year-old. We used to build forts out of the hay bales, now we're making our hay I realise what a nuisance that must have been for the farmers!

This is our fourth season of growing chillies. Started with 100 jalapeno plants the first year, then about 500 plants of various types the next just to see what grows here. Last year we had 687 plants and a big leap this year to 1906!

We are somewhat limited in the seeds available in NZ as we have very tight biosecurity. Your cherry bomb might be similar to our hot cherry? It's a tomato-shaped pod with a thick wall and low heat. Hot wax is one of my favourites, and we cold-smoked the ripe pods last year and pickled the unripe ones. I haven't seen sante fe grande over here, might have to search for some seeds next season. As for habanero, people do ask for them but I've found the season in Canterbury is too short (they can grow them in the north island).

Our last frost can be as late as November and the first frost is usually May, but I can get away with sowing seeds in mid-September in the poly tunnel. We had an unusually cool spring this year though, and they were extremely slow, so that seeds I sowed in late October actually caught up (and overtook) my earlier plants.

I'm trying to think where you're at with your season, must be too early to start sowing yet, unless you have a heated greenhouse?

As you say, we found if we started too early, later sowings overtook the early crop. We start the first mid to late Feb in a greenhouse with heating cables and some solar storage (barrels painted black and filled with water).

We are usually picking something (usually Hot Wax) by June and then through until Christmas, then we pull the plants in January and tidy up. We don't plant anything in the ground until mid to late April when the soil is 20c in the tunnels. We found if you plant them before that, they just sulk.

Cherry Bomb - yes, it sounds the same (see picture below).



Good luck finding Sante Fe Grande - one of my favourites.

Cheers, Steve.

ahhh, cherrybomb, one of my all-time favourites!
i think sfg is one i'm not growing this year, never seem to get seeds for that variety somehow.

We usually have Santa Fe Grnade seed in stock cherrybomb. I think you have to go some to beat it as a pickled chilli.

I'll put our recipe in the Recipes thread.

Cheers, Steve.